Iraqi official says IS executed hundreds of civilians in Mosul

Smoke billows from an area near the Iraqi town of Nawaran, some 10km north east of Mosul, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters march down a dirt road on October 20, 2016, during the ongoing operation to retake the city from the Islamic State group. (AFP PHOTO)

Islamic State jihadists in Mosul executed 284 civilians in the city in recent days, 61 of them children, CNN reported Saturday, quoting an unnamed Iraqi security source.

The source said men and boys, who had earlier been used as human shields in fighting against Iraqi forces, were rounded up and shot by IS members on Thursday and Friday. He added that the corpses were dumped in a mass grave.

Elite Iraqi troops have been closing in on Mosul, the last jihadist bastion in Iraq, in a long-anticipated offensive to retake the city

CNN noted that it could not independently confirm the report.

On Friday the UN said IS may be preparing to use civilians as human shields, or simply kill them, rather than let them be liberated in the Iraqi offensive.

United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said his office had reports that civilians were being held close to IS fighter positions in Mosul, possibly as a buffer against advancing Iraqi forces.

“There is a grave danger that ISIL fighters will not only use such vulnerable people as human shields but may opt to kill them rather than see them liberated,” Zeid said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.

Separately, Zeid said his office had reports that the jihadists forced an estimated 200 families to walk from the nearby Samalia village to Mosul last week.

Another 350 families were forced to Mosul from Najafia, according to the rights office.

Those forced displacements were consistent with IS’s “apparent policy of preventing civilians from escaping to areas controlled by the Iraqi security forces,” Zeid added.

The UN has voiced fears that a million people still trapped inside Mosul could be forced to flee the fighting, sparking a humanitarian emergency.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva by phone, the UN’s humanitarian chief in Baghdad, Lise Grande, said the “working scenario” foresees 200,000 people fleeing Mosul, but she cautioned that the numbers could be higher depending on how the military campaign develops.

So far, just 3,900 people have been displaced from the northern city, UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

He added that UNHCR was working to build up camps and emergency settlements in the area, as humanitarian agencies try to expand their capacity to help civilians as the fighting intensifies.

Aside from caring for those who manage to flee, Zeid stressed that Iraqi military planning for the US-backed offensive needs to prioritize civilian protection, especially with some of the combat expected to take place in confined urban settings.

“We know ISIL has no regard for human life, which is why it is incumbent upon the Iraqi government to do its utmost to protect civilians,” he said.

SIS dumped the corpses in a mass grave at the defunct College of Agriculture in northern Mosul, the intelligence source said.
The victims — including children — were all shot, said the source, who asked for anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. CNN could not independently confirm the killings.